Kenney Outlines Plans To Cut State Budget Deficit

Joe Kenney says if he were governor he'd immediately order state agency heads to cut their spending by 10 percent.

He says he'd also reduce the fleet of state cars and halve the number of cell phones issued to state workers.

New taxes, Kenney stressed, would be off the table, but cuts to the state workforce would be a real possibility.

"The last thing I want to do is cut state employee positions. But I will work with the Ways and Means Committee, the Finance Committee, and we'll determine that, in the next couple of months, whether that's an option or not."

Kenney was joined by several Republican lawmakers. They echoed his argument that the budget gap is a product of overspending by Governor Lynch and a Democratically-controlled legislature.

Democratic lawmakers who took in Kenney's remarks countered that Governor Lynch is committed to balancing the budget and argued that the national economy is largely to blame for the state's fiscal problems.

For NHPR News, I'm Josh Rogers.